What is a "Teenage Wasteland'?

Despite the burden of having such a hectic week, I found my short story, “Teenage Wasteland” to be a refreshing little escape from my teenage wasteland, in terms of insight and perspective. The short story is a creative and almost condensed composition by Anne Tyler that cleverly explores the instantly familiar feel of a typical family dynamic with an interesting twist. Tyler’s work ingeniously scrutinizes the complicated bonds and interactions that exist amongst ordinary families nowadays, as she divulges the source that these deep-rooted issues could possibly be derived from in everyday circumstances. Similarly, I think Tyler carefully and very accurately constructs the underlying tension that brews within Donny and Daisy Coble and how these sentiments eventually bubble to the surface, wrecking the family’s foundation forever. At first when I read the story, I couldn’t help but think about how strangely identifiable this household was in its intricate and delicate nature because Tyler truly uncovers the fundamental issues that many families must encounter when raising a teenager.

On that note, I think it’s very worthwhile of Anne Tyler to unravel these challenges through the window of literature by depicting actual familial relationships in a thoughtful and sensible manner that can be open to various interpretations. Not only does her work induce thorough deliberation and consideration, but it also requires a certain level of understanding of both sides of the story.

“Teenage Wasteland” commences with an intriguing introduction that instantly captures the Coble home dynamic between the parents, Daisy and Matt, and their children, Amanda, and their troublesome teenager, Donny. Immediately, the reader’s focus is drawn to Donny, a “noisy, lazy, and disruptive” student who is “always fooling around with his friends” at school (par. 2), already implying Donny’s teenage irresponsibility and insolence from the get-go. Soon enough, we discover that the story, told by the third person, mostly emphasizes the mother’s standpoint and mindset which is understandably very realistic and maternal-like.

As the story progresses and further dives into the difficulties that Daisy must face in justifying Donny’s rash and reckless behavior, I find myself empathizing with the mother and the magnitude of concern and distress she must feel because of Donny’s actions. No matter how hard she tries to understand and help Donny clean up his act at school and to stop getting into different pickles, the constant presence of miscommunication clearly obstructs her futile efforts. Unfortunately, Donny’s misconducts only worsen throughout the story, regardless of Daisy’s final attempt to restore Donny’s decency in her employment of the most suspicious and untrustworthy tutor, Calvin Beadle, who, in my opinion, possesses the most questionable motives.

Ultimately, after a hectic and unbearable few months of intense emotional encumbrances of trying to alter Donny’s unreasonably rebellious personality, Daisy finds herself emotionally drained. In the end, I was shocked to find that one day after school, Donny decides not to return home, and completely disappears. It was a sad ending that took me by surprise, but really made me think about the story as a whole and what inherently triggered Donny’s decision to run away in such a turbulent chain of events.